The holidays are right around the corner and if you’re hosting the holiday get-together, you need to know these common kitchen fires and how to stay safe this holiday season.
We’re all looking forward to the holiday season after such a tumultuous year—family, food, and fun! A holiday get-together can turn from cheerful to disaster in a short period of time though. There are over 150,000 cooking fires a year, and most of these fires occur on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day! Make sure your holiday isn’t toast, know the most common causes of kitchen fires and how to prevent them.
Unattended Food & Equipment
Leaving food unattended is one of the most common causes of house fires. It’s a simple mistake and one that’s easy to make around the holidays—you leave the turkey in the oven or the brussels sprouts on the stove to chat with your guests. Unattended food can easily catch fire and engulf your kitchen in flames. Cooking equipment is also a large risk factor in the kitchen—unattended cooking equipment causes 1/3 of kitchen fires and leads to nearly half of the deaths associated with cooking fires.
Never leave your kitchen unattended! You should be alert and aware, and if you need to step away for a moment, have your sous-chef step in.
Clothing
Clothing is one of the least common causes of kitchen fires, but it’s one of the leading causes of death in cooking fires. While clothing only accounts for 1% of all kitchen fires, it accounts for nearly 20% of deaths in kitchen fires. The best course of action is to make sure your clothing choices are fire-friendly: no dangling sleeves or loose clothing in the kitchen!
Frying
Frying is one of the most common causes of kitchen fires due to the use of oil, which is a combustible. Once a fire starts, it is hard to control. The best course of action when frying is to make sure you are using proper equipment and that you are using the necessary amount of oil. When deep frying, you should always use a proper deep fryer—never heat oil in a regular pot. When you finish cooking, clean all the areas around your stove to ensure that there is no oil residue left on any surfaces. Not doing so could result in a fire the next time you cook!
On a side note, you might want to second-guess that deep-fried turkey you were thinking of doing for Thanksgiving. Deep-fried turkeys have become all the rage in recent years, but they’re more dangerous than delicious. According to the FDNY, deep fryer fires cause 5 deaths, 60 injuries, and millions in damage on a yearly basis. Stick to the traditional oven method this holiday season!
Additional Causes
Sometimes fires happen in the blink of an eye—you thought you turned the stovetop off, you draped your dish towel too close to the burner, you knocked your cooking equipment off the stove, or you forgot to set the timer for the turkey in the oven. These are all additional common causes of kitchen fires and cooking injuries. You should always be careful of these things when working in your kitchen; keep your cooking area safe and hazard-free, handle equipment properly, and always keep an eye on your surroundings.
If a fire does occur in the kitchen, you should always call 9-1-1. If a person is on fire, they should stop, drop, and roll to smother the flames. If there is a fire on the stovetop or in the oven, immediately turn the heat off! Keep the oven door closed and try to smother any stove-top fires with a lid. Never pour water on an open fire—it may feed the flames, especially if oil was used.
Cooking fires account for nearly 50% of all home structure fires, and a majority of these fires happen on the holidays. Make sure you are practicing fire safety when in the kitchen and your holiday season will be a jolly good time.